How Hanukkah Can Help Us Fight Anxiety

The holiday of Hanukkah comes at the darkest time of the year (in Israel). 

So many cultures around the globe have a holiday celebrating light during the mid-winter month. Whether it is the Scandinavian cultures, the Chumash tribes of Native Americans, the northern Slavic cultures, the Chinese, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Judaism as well as many others. These all take place in mid-winter, which is the darkest time of the year because humanity has a need to show that even in the darkest times in our life, when we may be going through suffering, pain, or trauma, we can still find a deep spiritual light within ourselves that will allow us to grow and spread our light to the world around us. 

Hanukkah teaches us to focus, fight anxiety, stress, and frustration, and bring a lot of positivity to our lives. In order to achieve that, we need to put the holiday into the proper perspective and understand a bit more about it. 

Every Jewish festival has its own special spiritual element that comes into the world. In Kabbalistic terms, these elements are referred to as light. Each holiday has its own spiritual light which we focus on during that holiday. Pesach for example is the light of freedom, where we as individuals should focus on what freedom means to us, what we are slaves to in our lives, and appreciate the freedoms that we have. The holiday of Rosh Hashanah is a time to focus on creation, when we should focus on what we have created in the previous year, and what we hope to create in the coming year. Focusing on these spiritual elements of each holiday can make us better people and the world a better place. 

For Hanukkah, the spiritual element, the light which is coming into the world, is actually that of light itself; the light of spirituality. 

One of the very first things it says in the Torah is “Let there be light”. What was this light? It wasn’t daylight, because the sun was only created on the fourth day. Rather it was the light of spirituality. That is the special light that existed prior to the rest of the solar system being created. Interestingly enough Hanukkah starts on the 25th day of the month of Kislev, and the 25th word in the Torah is the word light. So there is somewhat of a hint that there is something special on this day.

It goes even deeper than this when we look at the mitzvah of the day. Each mitzvah is the vessel to receive the light of the festival. The vessel to receive the light of freedom on Pesach is matzah, the vessel to receive the light of recreation on Rosh Hashanah is the Shofar. On Hanukkah, the mitzvah is to light the Chanukiah, which means the vessel itself is light! The commandment is that we need to light the candle and then just look at it. We are not allowed to use it in any way, but simply see the light and appreciate it. The light represents the spirituality within us, our soul, so we take the time to peel away the externals of life and connect to our spiritual essence. Beyond that, Hanukkah is the festival where we need to focus on what brings light into the world, and what we do to appreciate it, not for the sake of using this fire or light for some other purpose, but simply to appreciate the light itself. Fire is the one element that when shared doesn’t diminish but simply grows to create more of itself. The powerful lesson here is that when we focus on the light in the world, we must focus on how we can share this light.

One candle can dispel a lot of darkness, and each of us has the ability to dispel darkness in the world around us, even if we are going through terrible times, and even if the odds are stacked against us. Whether we are facing a seven-front war and tsunamis of antisemitism all around us as we are in modern times, or facing the massive and overwhelming might of the Syrian Greek empire as we did back in ancient days, we must use the light that we have within ourselves and stand up for our values and for what we know to be true.

This is true on a personal level as well as on a national one. So many things get us bogged down. When things pile up we get overwhelmed, anxious, and frustrated, our body goes into a stress reaction and we can even get angry. We need to regain our focus, we need to take some time to stop our constant work and worry, and look at the candle, the place of peace, love, and joy within us, and really appreciate it.

In our daily lives, our minds are constantly jumping from place to place and our focus is divided and subdivided. Throughout our daily routines, we are so distracted by all our physical and material pursuits that we lose track of what we really need to focus on. Worry, doubt, fear, anticipation, remembering, hoping, all of these elements of thought take us out of the present moment and steal our mental focus. The light of Hanukkah is really trying to bring us deeply into the present moment. 

The point of Hanukkah is to take some time, sit with that one candle that represents a person’s soul, and let the fire help you focus and be mindful of the here and now. Each day we add one candle to the first to remind us that we need to share this light and that mindfulness and spiritual growth happen in small but consistent steps. By continuing to add one candle after another, we grow our focus and increase our capability of bringing light into the world. We increase our ability to bring about great change through our efforts. That is the message of Hanukkah and that is why the commandment is not just to light candles, or oil, but to appreciate it and increase it incrementally as well. We need to see and enjoy the light, slow down, and take time to appreciate the good that each of us brings to the world and help bring that out in those around us. We need to celebrate it. We need to recognize it. And through that recognition, we connect back to the light of spirituality and creation.  

By focusing on the light, on the good, on the spiritual power within each and every one of us, instead of on the bad and the overwhelming negativity from outside, we can maintain our poise, lower our anxiety and stress levels, and celebrate the light within ourselves. Once we do, we can share it with those around us who may be going through dark times as well. This way we will not only fight our own anxiety, but brighten up the entire world, one candle, and one person, at a time.

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Rabbi Dov Ber Cohen worked as a dance DJ in London before spending six years in Asia exploring Eastern philosophies. While volunteering at orphanages and circumnavigating a Japanese island by foot, he immersed himself in Eastern wisdom traditions becoming a Buddhist monk and martial arts expert. Upon moving to Israel, he discovered his true calling in the depth and beauty of Judaism. He is now a senior lecturer at the Aish World Center in Jerusalem. Rabbi Cohen founded Living in Tune: Authentic Jewish Mindfulness, offering online courses and in-person retreats. He is the author of “Mastering Life: A Unique Guidebook to Jewish Enlightenment” and “The Essential Teachings.” He was recently featured on social media as Nas Daily’s Rabbi. Rabbi Cohen lives in Jerusalem with his wife and children.